Mortality
by TristaStrange02
Summary: Jack is turned into a vampire and Wuya has plans for these new abilities. Meanwhile, the Xiaolin are left in the dark, puzzled at the news of a killer that drains their victims blood.
1. Chapter 1

The thing must have followed him home. Wuya gazed carelessly at the growling creature crouched at her feet. The Heylin witch knew exactly what it was; it was not her first experience with one. She'd known quite a few back in her day, back when they had been more prevalent in the world; nowadays most vampires only existed in movies. Yes, it was definitely a vampire.

There were many different types of vampires, like humans, they had their own races, from the Mayan Civicatataeo to the Chinese Hopping Vampire, the blood suckers existed all over the world. This one however, appeared to be a Russian Upir; also known as a mother f-, well, a very bad word.

It made sense really, earlier today a Shen-gong-wu had activated in Russia. Wuya had, unfortunately, not been able to attend; something she blamed Chase Young for, but she could still feel that magical pull that informed her when and where one had activated. It didn't matter all that much though, she supposed, after all, the Necklace of Hui was only a minor 'wu.

The creature's incessant growling was beginning to get on her nerves. She couldn't fathom how a creature this stupid had even managed to stowaway on Jack Spicer's jet all the way to China, and not get caught. Then again, it _was_ Jack Spicer. If ever an oblivious person lived it was him.

It was obviously a very old vampire, at least a couple thousand years old. Most vampires never made it that long; either villagers would have eventually gotten to them or, like what had happened to this one, their minds degraded until they were essentially animals. It was an ugly animal now, truly a living corpse with rotting, gray flesh; thin, stringy hair; and glowing green eyes that looked out form decaying, bruised sockets. Disgusting.

Unlike witches, vampires were not true immortals. In theory, they _could_ live forever, that is, they can only die if killed or exposed to sunlight, but eternal youth was only attained through the drinking of blood. The older the vampire, the more blood it needed, and if failed to feed regularly it would begin to rot as this one had. Being an Upir, this vampire's keen sense of smell had most likely sensed Jack was a child and had probably planned to consume his parents as well. It was too stupid to have considered that Jack's parents might rarely be home or that since the boy was flying home in a jet it might end up stranded hundreds of miles away from where it lived.

The ancient Heylin did not fear it attacking her for blood, as her veins were filled poison to the beast. She _was_ going to have to get rid of it though, as much as she enjoyed its company she would rather not have to find a new lackey. However, as she was debating what to do with it the thing suddenly ran off of its own accord. She was surprised at first, but it soon hit her that the sun was to rise soon and it likely feared death and went to seek out a proper hiding place to rest in. Wuya let it go; besides, she needed to check on Jack.

When the witch had arrived at the Spicer mansion she had originally come over to "borrow" one of his Shen-gong-wu for a plan she had in mind. Her plan was shoved aside however when the reek of old magic that was most definitely not 'wu had practically slapped her senses and led her to the sleeping boy's bedroom. Said boy was in a deep, magic endued sleep as the Upir fed. It sensed her as soon as she'd entered and had come at her like a wolf defending its kill. She had wrestled the thing into the hallway, defeating the weak, senile leach easily.

Now she looked down at Jack, still asleep in the vampire's hypnotic slumber. She had seen him asleep many times, after all, she had, for lack of a more fitting term, lived here when she had been in ghost form. He was still for the most part dressed, only missing his coat and shoes, even the stupid goggles were still there. She wasn't surprised; whenever he stayed up late working on his silly machines he would always plop into bed, too lazy to do anything but sleep. For someone who complained so loudly about not getting enough rest he sure liked to stay up late. His behavior was almost vampire-like in itself, staying up all night, sleeping until noon, not to mention his style of dress and that pale skin and red eyes; really all he needed was the thirst for blood.

He'd have that soon enough. Since the monster hadn't drained him dry venom now coursed through his veins and would begin to transform him into a creature of the night. He wouldn't be an Upir though, oddly enough, what type of vampire you became was determined by the race you were when human. The Russian vampire had been Russian to begin with. Just as Jack was of European decent, he would most likely be what most Americans thought of when they thought of vampires, that Dracula stereotype that turns into a bat, but more that that as well. He could be very powerful indeed…

Wuya rubbed her chin in contemplation. _Power._ That old blood-sucker had been pitiful at best, but a new, young vampire…She decided she would help Spicer. After all, the poor boy wouldn't have a clue what was happening to him and who was she not to help the poor thing out? And if he happened to be grateful for her help and would agree to use his powers for her only, well, who was she to argue with him? He could be ivery/i useful. Yes…

"Pleasant dreams Jack…" The boy rolled in his sleep in response, and then the witch left, a smug smile on her lips as her plan played over and over in her mind.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Chase Young stared firmly down at his spy-orb, a frown etched in to his features. He'd ordered the Heylin witch she was not to leave, if she wanted to stay here at all. A punishment for her many betrayals, but, as always, she had disobeyed him. She thought herself so clever, that if she snuck out he would not know about it. He snorted at the thought. Such ignorance, he hated putting up with her, but as the saying goes "keep your friends close and enemies closer", and if she wasn't an enemy he'd go play video games with Spicer.

_Spicer._ One could not have thought his frown could have gotten any deeper until he thought of that boy. And now it seemed his danger-prone self had even managed to almost get killed while sleeping. Yet he hadn't; gotten killed that is, and if what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, karma was finally granting him strength he'd never gained from any previous near-death experiences.

Young put his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on form the thought of a few thousand years with that boy. It was as if karma had also decided to finally get him back for fifteen hundred years of evil. What's worse, it seemed as if Wuya planned to use the boy for her own gain, which would certainly mean his loss if he allowed it. For now he would see what happens; it would take at least a week for a full transformation, by then Wuya in all her smug glory will have probably have revealed exactly what she planned to do without even realizing it. He heard Wuya trying to enter silently and sighed, for now he would "play dumb", so to speak, about the vampire business. However, he _was_ going to make it clear that he knew everything that went on within his house and he was not going to tolerate insolence.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack Spicer awoke the next morning (well, more like noon really), yawning, and absent mindedly scratching at his neck, unaware of the healed over puncture wounds that could be found there. He knew nothing of what had transpired last night; the Upir, Wuya, none of it was remembered even as a weird dream. To him, it had never happened so he acted accordingly, going about his morning as he normally did.

Well, sort of.

"OUCH! DANG IT!" the evil boy genius shouted in response to stubbing his toe on the end of his bed.

While he proceeded to hop around yelling; he didn't notice the coat he had haphazardly thrown on the floor last night was still there and stepped on it, sliding until he fell with a 'whumph'. He rubbed his head, glaring at the wall and picked up the black trench coat he'd slipped on, throwing it over the messy sheets.

Oh, how he hated mornings. Especially Monday mornings; when he ruled the world he was definitely getting rid of Mondays.

For now, the young boy simply yawned again and let his growling belly lead him to where the food was. The Spicer dining room was beautiful, like a magazine picture really; like no one lived there at all. Which made sense, Jack never used it, and his parents ate somewhere else more often than not. He walked right past the dining room into the kitchen which, though not as lovely, was actually used.

He probably could have made a Jack-bot years ago to cook him breakfast every morning, but for some reason he only thought about making one when he was hungry. Besides, there were some days he actually liked cooking, but today was not one of them. He grabbed a box of Franken-Berry and a bowl, poured the cereal, got the milk and a spoon. He left the carton on the counter after pouring it, and, still standing, took a bite.

He instantly spit it out.

"Yuck! What the heck?" The Goth boy stuck out his tongue dramatically in distaste. "Gross! That milk must be rotten."

He dumped the cereal out of the bowl and into the trash and angrily threw out the milk as well. If he had bothered to check the sell-by date on the carton however, he might have realized the milk was not expired at all, and therefore might have questioned why it tasted so horribly to him. But he didn't, so he didn't, and remained oblivious.

Somewhere along the way of finding something else to eat it occurred to him he felt more thirsty then hungry, yet wanted something salty. There, in the door of the fridge, a can of tomato juice, that would work. A few weeks ago his mother had gotten it into her head that if she ate or drank nothing but vegetable juice she would lose a few pounds, which was a silly idea for many reasons, but explained what it was doing there. She'd given up on that diet in two days; her love of chocolate pudding rivaled her son's.

Jack ordered a 'bot to clean up the bowl in the kitchen and drank the juice as he made his way to his evil lair. Much better than spoiled milk, he thought.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

At the Xiaolin temple the four monks had been awake for quite a few hours by now. In fact, Clay was already talking about being ready for some lunch as they continued going through the training course. There was no specific lesson today, just working to maintain their shape. The rest of them agreed with the Earth dragon's suggestion and began to wind down from their exercises.

The four friends went straight from training to the mess hall; they fixed lunch from whatever happened to be available then sat around the table eating and talking, or in Kimiko's case, checking her PDA.

"Girl, are you ever ioff/i that thing?" teased Raimundo, so far today she'd been glued to the thing even more than normal. And that was saying something.

Kim was aware of her actions, she didn't mean to seem far away or anything, but a recent news story had gotten her attention. She said as much to her friends now.

"What kind of story?" asked the ever inquisitive Omi.

"It's really weird actually, since early this morning all sort locals have been calling in and complaining about some kind of monster thing."

"Monster? Yeah, right. They probably all just saw a stray dog with mange or something."

"I don' know Rai," said Clay, "After all the dragons, ghosts, witches, an' other things like that we've seen it could be anythin'."

"Clay is correct Riamundo," agreed Omi, "it could very well be a new force of evil!"

"I don't know about ithat/i guys, but whatever it is these people have seen killed someone."

At the Fire Dragon's statement the tone of the room suddenly lost its humor.

"Whoa, does it really say that?" questioned a more serious Rai.

"Not directly, but it says witnesses who were near the murder saw a humanoid creature-thing running off on all fours close to the crime scene. Local authorities don't believe it, but, oh man…"

"What? What happened?" asked the Water Dragon.

Kimiko looked up at her friends with wide eyes, "Whatever killed that poor guy drained him of his blood."

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Jack Spicer moaned on the floor of his lair. He bet it was food poisoning. True, technically he hadn't eaten any food all day, but what else could have made him so sick so suddenly? It had to be that tomato juice. He was sure of it.

Aside from stubbing his toe and almost eating spoiled milk, the day had been rather uneventful. He'd spent most of the day fixing the Jack-bots that had been destroyed in yesterday's showdown. No one had showed up to bother him, no monks, no villains, just him and his machines. It had been rather peaceful actually, and so he lost himself in his hobby.

That is, until the food poisoning set in.

One moment he was fine, the next he was spewing the contents of his stomach into a trash can. He felt cold and achy and desperately wanted something to drink. He'd ordered a 'bot to bring him a ginger ale but one sip had him ready to puke again, not because of how sick he was feeling either, because it had tasted like mud.

"Wh-what's wrong with meeee?" whined the boy genius. And much to his surprise, he got a response.

"How are you feeling Jackie?" asked a woman's voice sounding falsely sweet. A voice he recognized.

"Wuya?"


	3. Chapter 3

Wuya had been keeping an eye on Jack since last night using what little magic Chase hadn't taken from the witch so she could do so without detection. It was a simple spell that functioned basically like Chase's spy-orb. Her sneaking out had earned the Heylin woman a threat of being thrown out with the trash if she didn't follow the house rules. Anger had burned in what heart she had; Chase had treated her like a misbehaving teenager.

That had settled it; Wuya was definitely going to get revenge for being treated like a child, but not now. No, she would get her retribution later, maybe when she had another powerful partner, like a vampire. Chase had ordered his servants to watch what she did and where she went, but she found a little food easily bribed them to obey iher/i instead.

As soon as Jack had started showing serious signs of transformation she had left. The stages of the change were simple: first, a thirst for blood and a loss of desire for human foods; second, the accumulation of powers; and third, the loss of humanity. The third was the most important, as soon as he no longer cared for the human race he would kill more efficiently.

She knew the weak boy wouldn't yet have the stomach to kill ianything/i, not even a rat, for his first meal as one of the undead. Despite his claims of being evil it was more than obvious that he wasn't even close; if anything, he was a misguided attention seeker. He was too squeamish, too green, yet not feeding would make him wild and difficult to control until his changing body got what it needed. So along the way she had found a stray dog, killed it, and drained the blood into a flask. The youth would be more likely to drink it in that form.

He wouldn't be able to live on animal blood, not that he'd even iwant/i to, but he was not yet a full vampire. For now animal blood would suffice, probably for tomorrow as well. Only tomorrow he would have to get it himself; he had to learn to hunt after all.

When Wuya finally arrived Jack was sitting on the floor of his little playroom surrounded by his toys as he shivered and writhed in pain. Judging by the stench in the air he had vomited up any human foods he may have eaten. The boy's back was propped up against the leg of a table covered in blueprints and machine parts. His breath was coming out in pants while sweat trickled down his forehead. Overall Jack looked absolutely pathetic.

"How are you feeling Jackie?" she asked, trying to sound sympathetic.

"Wuya?"

"That's right."

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

He looked like a mess. The witch supposed it was fair; in essence he was changing species.

"Checking up on my old partner; after all, you're going through some tough times."

iYeah right./i "What do you know about it?"

Jack knew he was prone to "blond moments", but he wasn't an idiot. Wuya never came over to just to see how he was doing, and this motherly-act didn't ease his suspicion.

"I know ieverything/i about it," she said, a wicked smile growing on her face, "My dear boy, you're becoming immortal."

Whatever Jack had been expecting her to say it was definitely inot/i that. He was completely taken off guard by it and his suspicion was instantly replaced by questions. Wuya saw his change of expression and knew she had him now.

"iImmortal/i! But-" She cut off his questions before they could start.

"How? It's simple really, tell me, are you aware of what an 'Upir' is?"

"Uh, yeah actually…"

It was true, a few years ago when Jack has first began his interest with the Gothic sub-culture he had gone through a vampire phase; not an uncommon thing among his age group. In that time he had read every book he could find that featured the blood-suckers. 'Dracula', 'Interview with the Vampire', hell, he'd even tried reading 'Twilight' at some point but had barely gotten through the beginning before announcing to no one in particular that the book was terrible.

Wuya didn't know this, and still gave him a skeptical look that made him blush in frustration.

"I do!" protested the Goth boy, "It's a Russian vampire right? They usually go after families, and Vlad told me 'upir' is also slang for mother-"

"Yes," Interrupted the Heylin woman, "so you know."

"Yeah, so…what about it?"

"Think about it Jack; where was the Shen-gong-wu yesterday?" she questioned, a hint of impatience creeping into her voice.

"Uh, Russia?"

"Yes, and iwhere/i are Upir found again?"

"Russia."

"So what could all that have to do with you becoming immortal?"

Wuya wanted to face palm at the oblivious look on his face. Instead she forced herself to be patient and decided to spell it out for him.

"For Evil's sake, a vampire followed you home from Russia." It came out angrier than she had intended but his ignorance had been getting on her nerves.

Jack's eyes went wide and instinctively his hand went to his neck feeling the previously unnoticed bite mark that could be found there. The realization that everything the witch was saying was true hit him like a shovel; ihe had almost bdied/b last night. Instead he was turning into a bvampire/b./i

"I saved you, you know."

iThis can't be happening/i "What?" He'd barely heard her; he was ready to go into shock.

"That creature would have drained you dry if not for me."

"R-really?" He was too astonished for him to wonder why she had been at his house that late at night in the first place. Everything was happening too fast.

"Yes…but now, you're turning into a vampire Jack. That's why you've been sick, your body doesn't want food anymore; it wants iblood/i" She made sure to sound kind and empathetic.

"Blood?" His response came out like a squeak.

"Yes. That reminds me…" Wuya took out the flask she'd brought with her. The evil boy genius looked warily at it, everything he'd had today had made him sick and the thought of blood didn't sound much better. That's what it had to be: blood.

The witch crouched down to the boy's level and offered it to him. He took an experimental sniff.

It smelled wonderful.

It was the most beautiful smell in the world at that moment. Sweet and spicy and salty and warm and just an utterly perfect fragrance like nothing he'd ever experienced in his short life. It called to him, he wanted to guzzle it down, to chug it like an alcoholic would a beer. It was a drug, one sip and he knew he'd be addicted. His head was swimming; he iNEEDED/i it.

"…drink up Jack."

He needed no encouragement; he all but snatched it from her hands. Wuya merely smiled at his enthusiasm and watched as Jack took his first sip of blood.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Chase hadn't been surprised to find Wuya gone again; however, today he would pretend she had gotten away with it. That she thought she could bribe his warriors was just arrogant, of course they would accept free food, but that doesn't mean they would iwork/i for her. She seemed to get a kick from acting like a teenager; no, that was an insult to the monks, more like a bratty child.

He felt no need to check on what she was doing; obviously she had gone to check on her protégé before he could become too blood thirsty and to possibly answer his questions. He already knew all he wanted about vampires; like Wuya, he had known a good many of the leeches during his long lifespan. He recalled the first one he had met, her name lost to time. It had not been long after he had locked Hannibal Bean in the Ying-Yang world.

The Italian creature had captivated him at first; she had seemed so beautiful and exotic with her blond hair and blue eyes. It was the first time he'd been so far away from his home in China and the fact that there were people in the world who looked as she had seemed truly amazing. Looking back it was very amusing to see what things he thought were wonderful. However, things change, like his attitude towards her.

A few centuries down the line and she hadn't taken care of herself iat all/i. Immortal life to her had been one big party so she had taken no measure to preserve herself. She had fed irregularly, often forgot to find a proper hiding place so she could rest during the day without detection, and was constantly making herself sick by feeding of ill or diseased people. Chase would not have been surprised if she hadn't known vampires weren't true immortals; it would have explained much about her actions. He had put her out of her misery.

He would likely have to do the same for Spicer.

As annoying as he found the boy he had never made an honest attempt to kill him. He'd thought about it and he wouldn't save the boy if he was dying, but going out of his way to slaughter him? It would have been petty and childish. Spicer wasn't a threat to him, just irritating. Besides, he would die in a mere sixty years or so anyway.

Things would be different when the youth was a vampire. With Wuya mentoring him he'd be tricky to deal with at best, and as soon as he realizes he doesn't need the witch he will turn on her in an instant, just as Chase had turned on Hannibal. To be full a vampire you had to lose your humanity and doing so made you loyal only to your own species. Wuya is a fool if she thinks she can control him forever once Spicer has fully transformed.

Immortals of other species rarely get along under normal circumstances; just look at the way the witch and the dragon lord fought all the time. Even on the off-chance he doesn't turn on her he will still be difficult. Immortal powers trapped with the mentality of a snot-muffin of a teenager like Jack Spicer with no concern for anyone but fellow vampires was a dangerous thing. And if that danger was suddenly pointed in his direction he was certainly going to do something about it.

Even if that meant he would have to kill the boy.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning could find the four Xiaolin monks sitting around the breakfast table in the mess hall. Since yesterday all of them had become interested in the mystery of the blood drained victim. However, no new developments had come out by the time they had they had all decided to go to bed.

As soon as she had finished eating Kimiko was on her PDA checking to see if they had caught the guy. The others waited for her to tell them if anything had happened but as her expression changed and she stayed silent the other dragons were starting to wonder until Riamundo just decided to ask.

Kim had been shocked by all the new developments that had come out since early this morning. She was so engrossed she almost forgot the others were curious too.

"They found another body," informed the Dragon of Fire, a grim undertone to her voice, "police are starting to suspect a serial killer is lose."

Solemn expressions crossed their faces, with the exception of Omi, who was wondering who would want to destroy a breakfast food.

"Like the last one?" questioned Rai.

"Yep, drained of blood. Found not far away from the last one; anyone who claims to have seen anything all have the same story about seeing a humanoid monster-thing. "

"Monster er no monster dat jest ain't right." Stated Clay sadly.

"Why do the police believe it to be the work of a person who hates breakfast? Should they not be looking for this monster?" Asked Omi.

"Serial as in 'in a series' Omi, not cereal as in breakfast," corrected Rai, "and police don't believe in monsters, at least not the ones you mean."

"But monsters do exist!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah but that's secret, that's why we're here. They handle people; we handle the monsters."

"Then should iwe/i not be doing something?"

Raimundo went silent at his question, after all, he did have a point. Thing was, they couldn't be one hundred percent sure this iwasn't/i a human. There were some pretty crazy-dangerous people in the world. Kimiko picked up on what their leader was thinking and explained to Omi for him.

"I still do not understand; why would a person harm another without reason?"

"It don't have to make sense dude," answered Rai, "some people are just messed up like that."

It was obvious from the look on his face that the Dragon of Water still didn't get it. After all the battles they've been through together sometimes they forgot how much younger than them Omi actually was. He wasn't even a teenager, yet it was only moments like this when he looked up with large innocent eyes that the others truly remembered.

"They found a dog too." Kimiko said suddenly.

"They found a dog?" Raimundo parroted stupidly.

"Listen, i'Police aren't sure what to make of it yet but a stray dog was found drained of its blood as well. So far police has not determined whether this incident is related to the two murders as the animal was found in a different area and appears to have been killed in a different manner.'/i" Kim sounded anxious, "That dog wasn't found that far from here…"

"Don't worry 'bout it too much Kim; ain't nothin' we can do. An' if whatever it is comes here it'll have to deal with us." Assured Clay.

Before anything else could be said about the subject Dojo suddenly burst into the room and made his way to the top of the breakfast table.

"Hate to break of the conversation kids, but we've got a live one!"

The tone of the room took a dramatic shift. The grim undertone form their conversation melted away as they all switched to Shen-gong-wu retrieval mode.

"Which 'wu is it Dojo?" asked the Dragon of Earth.

"It's called the Golden Orb."

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Jack Spicer was having a rough morning. Well, another rough morning, however, this time was because he could feel his body turning into a vampire. He could feel as slowly his teeth were growing into fangs and his ears were extending into points. His vision was changing too; the world suddenly looked sharper, clearer, and more colorful than before. Unfortunately this was not a painless change, like a teething baby he felt a strong urge to bite down on something to ease the pain in his mouth; he was still achy all over and really wanted some more blood.

The blood had made him feel so much better last night, but he'd been told not to drink too much, his body was still adjusting to this new diet. Oh, but how he wanted more.

Wuya had left an hour ago, she said she had to do some things; he wasn't sure what that meant exactly but he wished she had at least given him more than comforting words for the pain. She had stayed all of last night answering his questions with a surprising amount of patience.

It helped that he already knew a lot about vampires already, all she really had to tell him was what was real and what had been invented by humans. For starters, the whole 'can't stand the sight of the cross' thing; that was just a myth. The only crucifixes that could hurt him were ones made of silver and only because the silver was the danger. Garlic too, she'd told him, could interfere with his powers. Luckily though both could hurt him neither could kill him.

The witch had told him what could kill him, made a point if it point even that he should know. Wooden stakes through the heart and beheading; those were false, he could survive that. Fire and sunlight however, were quite deadly, but, she told him much to his surprise, that didn't mean he could never go outside on a sunny day. As long as he could keep the sun off his skin he could go wherever he wanted. He wouldn't have to sleep in a coffin either, though it was recommended he find a secure place to rest as vampires were most vulnerable while sleeping and there were always people looking to kill one.

So far everything had been easy to remember. Jack could only drink human blood when he was a full vampire, and he shouldn't eat anyone with a disease because it would make him sick. Hunting for victims would be an easy task when he had his full powers. Vampires can't really hypnotize people but if their victim looks in their eyes a vampire can render them unable to move. No to mention the extra speed and strength that comes with being a creature of the night. The idea of killing a person though…Wuya had talked about it like one might talk about buying a steak from the grocery store. He'd never so much as seen a dead body and the idea made him squeamish. He'd smiled and nodded while she had been there but he didn't know if he could do it; then again, he'd have to do it.

After that discussion Wuya began telling him about the powers vampires possessed. Jack had been especially excited to find out he could turn into a bat. His excitement only grew when Wuya told him vampire could turn into any animal; it just took practice. He decided the first thing he was going to teach himself was how to turn into a monkey. The witch had face-palmed at this suggestion but to Jack it was perfect; who on earth would be expecting a monkey to be a vampire?

So far being a vampire sounded like the perfect way to live, if you consider a vampire to be alive. Well, almost perfect, there was just one thing that bugged him more than anything, even more than the killing-thing: he'd never wanted to be an immortal. Sure, immortals had powers and it would make sense that if a person was going to take over the world he should acquire immortality as well, but…living forever just seemed sad. Maybe it didn't have to be sad. Dojo was immortal right? He always seemed pretty happy, supposed Jack, well, when he wasn't acting like a total princess. And Chase was immortal; he didn't seem to have any complaints.

Chase! He'd almost forgotten about his idol! He couldn't wait to tell him, the dragon lord was definitely going to be impressed when he demonstrated his new powers. Jack couldn't wait to show him; after all, with immortal powers maybe Chase would even let Jack be his apprentice, for real this time. He could see it now…And with these thoughts distracting him Jack began to feel much better.

He was startled out of his dreaming suddenly when his Shen-gong-wu detector went off. One iwould/i have to activate now of all times. He decided to ignore it; he was sick and tired and probably didn't look his best at the moment. Besides, if it was an important 'wu he could just steal it later. Jack turned it off and went to sleep hoping when Wuya came back she would have another flask of animal blood. He REALLY wanted more…


	5. Chapter 5

When they had first arrived in the southern part of America to find the Golden Orb none of the Xiaolin had noticed. Something should have alarmed them, or at least made them worry as they searched behind bushes and under rocks for the mystical item but nothing did. Finally it dawned on the Shoku leader that _something_ was different, a presence missing from the hunt, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

That is, not until he rushed over to the others and heard Omi's loud declaration of how he had found the 'wu and that evil could not have it. By then the others had begun noticing it as well as a silence descended only punctuated by the sounds of the forest. Nothing was happening.

"…Where are the Heylin?" Omi looked around curiously.

"I don' reckon they're comin' Omi," answered the cowboy, looking around.

"This is most suspicious..." Omi rubbed a finger across his chin.

"Well, I think this is a first guys…" said Kimiko quietly, "I mean, I can understand Chase or Wuya not showing, but Jack's _always_ here." It Rai didn't know any better he'd say she sounded _worried_.

"Uh, maybe he's…I don't know, sick or something." But even Riamundo didn't buy it.

"Well," said Dojo peeking out from under Clay's hat, "at least your job's easy today. Common kids, no sense waiting for danger."

The ancient dragon slid completely from under the ten-gallon headwear and shifted into his larger form. The four monks climbed aboard with an awkward feeling that something just wasn't right about all of this. The Dragon of Water paused a moment, taking a final look just to be sure before Dojo flew off into the air.

Back at the Temple, the four friends had all crowded around the ancient scroll of the Shen-gong-wu. They had left in a bit of a rush, all having wanted to distract themselves from the sad news reports of the morning, and doing so none had remembered to grab the scroll before leaving. While Dojo could remember the name of the 'wu his memory had been a bit foggy as to what it did.

The ancient magic of the scroll did its thing as the still image was suddenly animated giving them a demonstration as to what the powers of the Golden Orb were. A generic looking warrior placed said 'wu on the ground before him and the orb seemed to explode with a flash of light that they supposed could blind your opponent before going back to normal.

"So…it's like a flash bomb?" questioned Rai.

"According to the scroll, it releases a flash of pure sunlight." Stated the small yellow monk.

"Like I said, it's a flash bomb."

"Pretty much," said Dojo, "but, hmmm…"

"What?" pressed Kim.

"Dashi made it for something specific. It doesn't just release light, it releases _sunlight_. I can't remember _why_ though…"

"To blind someone?"

"Hm, I guess…" Dojo was sure it was something else, but let it go. The way-more-than-fifteen hundred year old dragon was not going to remember anytime soon.

The Brazilian gave a grin, "No wonder the Heylin didn't show…"

A few grinned back at the comment, though a few more did not.

"Do not underestimate the usefulness of any of the Shen-gong-wu." Omi defended.

"I'm not saying it's not useful, just not interesting."

The topic was dropped then as Rai left with the 'wu heading towards the vault. Once put away the Golden Orb was forgotten about.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

The sun was setting. _Finally._

As the day had worn on the pain had become less and less intense until finally it had faded away all together. Jack felt great now, better than great, he felt _strong_. He spent a full ten minutes testing out this strength by running around and breaking and bending and lifting things just because he could now. It would have gone on longer if Jack had not suddenly had an urge to see what he looked like now.

Even though he could feel the fangs and pointed ears he couldn't isee/i them, and he bet it looked cool. He was surprisingly calm about his transformation. Maybe it was because of his previous experience with magic, or more likely his not understanding the full gravity of his transformation but whatever it was he wasn't bothered.

Unfortunately, he was beginning to discover the drawbacks. Looking into the bathroom mirror, he discovered he had no reflection. Frowning, he wondered why the witch hadn't mentioned it, then again, he hadn't asked. That part of the myth wasn't popular in stories anymore and he'd almost forgotten about it. He wondered if he'd show up on film.

After finding his digital camera he took a quick snapshot of himself. It…worked! Ha! He looked so awesome. It was a really bad photo but it told him what he wanted to know. He was the very picture of a vampire, red eyes…idid they always glow like that?/i…pale, white skin…iwell that's not new/i…and the fangs…itotally evil/i…and the pointed ears. Jack wondered why so many immortals had pointed ears. Though his weren't quite as pointy as Wuya's (more like Chase's actually) they seemed rather pointless. Cool looking, but pointless. Maybe they make your hearing better?

He didn't care about why he had shown up on the camera but not on the mirror. This was too cool. Therefore he didn't realize that because it was a _digital_ camera it doesn't use silver like older film cameras; sliver, which can interfere with vampire powers.

Jack played around for a while after that, even worked on his robots some as he waited for Wuya to return. _He was really thirsty._ She said she would. _So very thirsty._ After a while he got bored. _Thirsty._ He thought about going out but it was still so sunny outside. _His throat was beginning to burn._ He played on the computer…_blood._

Where was that witch! The Evil-Boy-Vampire could not think straight anymore and had started pacing around. She'd told him to wait for her to get back but he was about ready to forget her. He'd have already gone out if not for the fact she seemed to know a lot about this vampire stuff and that he trusted her.

Pacing a few more minutes he finally heard a noise outside, courtesy of his new and improved hearing, and rushed to follow it.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Wuya's errands had more or less been her trying to hide what she was doing from the suspicious eyes of Chase Young, who had finally ended her demeaning punishment of the grounds he was sick of her presence, and acquiring some silver. Oh, Jack was very easy to control, even when she'd been a ghost she had only needed to raise her voice to get his attention, but a little leverage never hurt.

Other than that she had no errands. She could have returned hours ago but didn't. Instead she dressed up in some human clothes, looked around human stores, got lunch, uninteresting stuff that people do every day. She thought of her protégé only a few times. She knew Jack was probably in pain and thirsty and could use comfort right now, she was counting on it actually.

Wuya knew Jack better than anyone else; he would boast about evil but if ever got into a position to do real damage he'd chicken out the last minute. This way, by letting him sit for a while, the urge for blood could overpower his squeamishness. Tonight he would do his own hunting, she wasn't his mommy.

It was only as the sun was beginning to set that the witch returned to the Spicer mansion. She came in as she always did, through the unlocked back door but for once, rather than being able to sneak up on him, he was waiting for her on the other side. He had changed drastically since she'd last seen him, the witch's gaze admiring the fangs.

"You smell awful." He wrinkled his nose at her.

She did smell awful. What on earth had she been doing? He had expected her to look offended, instead she smirked.

"What, no hello?"

Wuya had been offended at first, and had been about to retort that he didn't exactly smell like roses but held herself back. Besides, it was probably her blood he smelled, not her. At least it better be. And Jack did look very hungry…

"Hello," he deadpanned, and then pleading, "Did you bring me anything to drink?"

"No." His face fell. "Tonight you're getting your own food."

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

The monks were goofing off now. The day was almost over and this was their free time. Kimiko and Riamundo were laughing as they searched various YouTube videos while Clay and Omi were playing a card game. Master Fung, Dojo wrapped around his shoulders, looked out over his young charges.

"It is getting late young ones, you might want to begin preparing for bed."

"Five more minutes?" pleaded Rai, sounding more like a child than a dragon leader, "This vid only has a few minutes left."

Omi and Clay were already clearing their game.

The old man smiled and nodded, "Alright, but do not stay too long."

He walked on, knowing them well enough to know they would be more than five minutes, but trusting them enough that they would get themselves to bed at a reasonable time.

When the last video ended Kim closed out of explorer and shut down the lap-top. It was completely dark by then and the two wordlessly headed off, Clay and Omi having already gone on. Kimiko separated from the Rai to put her computer in her room before heading to the girls' bathroom to brush her teeth.

As Japanese girl was coming back from her room, something shifted in her hair and clanked as it fell against a rock. She looked to her left to find one of her hair clips had fallen out. When she turned to pick it up she squealed when a rat came near, running off with it.

"Oh great…"

Had it been one of her cheap, plastic clips she would have let it go. However, it happened to be a much more expensive gold one form her father so she found herself running after the rodent. Usually you wouldn't find rats on temple property; she was going to have to warn the others to watch out for them. Why did it have to take her hair clip?

The rat was fast and ran for it, leaving the temple grounds. Kim hesitated for only a moment before continuing her pursuit. Ew, it was carrying her clip _in its mouth._ She didn't realize how far she was running into the forest; didn't see how dark it had really gotten out there because if the small flame she had summoned. Finally the creature seemed to catch on to why it was being followed and dropped the clip letting Kimiko pick it up and slip it into her pocket.

Looking around she finally realized how far the chase had brought her. Anyone else might have freaked out, but she was the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire, the dark didn't scare her. Before she could head back noises caught her attention, _loud_ noises.

"What now? Sigh."

Fire looked in the direction the noises were coming form. The news reports from early that morning flashed in her mind. That dog really wasn't found that far from here. She wanted to chalk it up to fighting animals. She wanted to just go back to the temple and forget about everything. But she couldn't, not when some of those noises from what had to be a struggle sounded human.

Kimiko was a warrior, she was brave and if someone out there needed help she was going to give it. She followed the noises deeper into the forest, constantly scanning for signs of life. The noises had seemed to stop, and it felt like a very bad sign. It occurred to her suddenly that the animals had stopped making noises as well. It left her feeling chilled in the all-too-obvious silence only punctuated by her footsteps.

"Hello? Anyone out here?" It came out in a whisper.

She was about to turn back and go home when she saw it.

A shadowy human-shaped figure was standing among the trees holding something small and furry against its face. It was official, she was completely creeped out. Yep. As quietly as she could manage she began backing away slowly. It backfired on her when a twig snapped under foot and she cursed it silently. The thing's head snapped up instantly looking around in obvious surprise. At one point she was sure the glowing red eyes were looking at her.

Familiar glowing red eyes.

Eyes surrounded by heavy black eyeliner.

Eyes that should not have been glowing.

She gaped openly at the unmistakable profile, it couldn't be…

"Jack?"

Oops. She said that out loud. His eyes were locked on her now. She tensed waiting for an attack but instead he gaped at her looking as shocked as she did before bearing his fangs and running away. _Fangs._ He had fangs. What the-

Kim swore she could hear her heart beating. For the first time in her entire life _Jack Spicer_, of all people, had scared her. Was that even Jack? What had happened to him? He looked so…not that he had ever looked normal, but he had looked so…inhuman. She shivered remembering those blood covered fangs.

It was a while before she could force herself to move, having been completely unnerved. Kimiko hadn't been that scared in a long, long time. It was dark and the cold was getting to her and she wished she had just let the rat have the stupid clip.

The Japanese girl didn't relax until she got sight of the temple; the others needed to know about this.


	6. Chapter 6

"…That's when I came back here."

Kimiko stared, still shaking, into her cup of tea, watching the grains of sugar drift to the bottom. The others had gotten it for her a while ago, but she had not yet taken a sip and it was very likely she never would. She hadn't looked up once while telling her story, and did not feel like breaking her streak.

Kim knew what she would see and could not face her friends concern and pity at the moment. Besides, she could already feel their stares.

When the Dragon of Fire had finally made it back to the temple she found her friends looking for her. It surprised her at first, because she had not realized she had been gone long enough for her absence to be noticed. In her world things were going all too fast.

Kimiko supposed she must have looked frantic or in shock the way Clay had talked to her, like he was calming a wounded animal. Omi kept asking questions, all of which she ignored, until Riamudo had eventually told him to shut up. Rai's empathy was the worst; she must have seemed very fragile for him to give her that quiet, caring tone.

She tried to shrug them off a bit; Kim hated when people made a fuss over her. She was fine, physically she had no injuries, and there was no way, no matter what he could have possibly done to himself, that Jack Spicer could have scared her so bad that she needed help to get over it.

It was just that he had gotten pretty damn close.

The Japanese girl closed her eyes for a moment and saw it playing over and over inside her eyelids. iThe woods...the blood…the fangs…/iher eyes shot open as she tried to shake the memory off like a mosquito that would not leave her alone.

She finally looked up.

"I…can't believe it…I jest can't believe it…" The cowboy stared at her, wonder etched into his features, "You say it wasiSpicer/i?"

Kimiko nodded, and finding her voice again said, "Yeah…he's hard not to recognize." There was no sarcasm in her tone. It was a statement of fact.

"But it makes no sense! How would Jack Spicuh get fangs? And why would he eat a small animal?" inquired the smallest monk.

"I don't know Omi!" Kim snapped, and then with less anger, "He could have done anything! Sold his soul to Bean, become some kind of cyborg, or maybe he's possessed!"

Until she had said it, Kimiko had not actually thought about the 'how' at all, but it was true, all of those things were possibilities.

"Um, Kim…" Began Rai, his voice in that gentle tone from before. He was unsure how to continue; Raimundo hated to do this, he really did, but…he did not believe her. He trusted her, normally he'd have already been planning how they were all going to combat this new treat.

"I hate to doubt you, but, are you sure you really saw it?" Kimiko was glaring daggers at him. "Look, I'm sorry, but it's late, you were tired and, well, are you sure it wasn't a-a dream…or…something…"

Raimundo faltered at the end, afraid he was about to spontaneously combust. He looked over to Clay for support but was met with a disapproving 'you-are-on-your-own' look. But when Kimiko only continued to silently glare at him and he risked continuing.

"Hey, look, I trust you, but…you want me to believe that iJack Spicer/i, king of the girly scream, has turned into some kind of monster or whatever and was drinking animal blood in the middle of the forest, even thought he doesn't live in this area, using fangs he suddenly has now?"

"Yes." It was her only reply, unless you count the cold, angry stare as a response.

No one said anything for a while, though Omi looked back and forth impatiently.

"I was not dreaming, or hallucinating, or imagining it Rai."

Clay, a fairly good reader of people, could sense the argument in the air and wanted no part of it. "Uh, Omi, maybe we should jest go on to bed."

"But I still want to-"

"You can ask in the mornin'." The Texan shuffled the protesting Omi out, not to be mean, but the Water Dragon had a skill for unintentionally making disputes worse. This quarrel was between Kimiko and Raimundo, and, quite frankly, though he was glad Kim had been found safe, searching for her this late at night had worn him out.

"Look all I'm saying is-"

"What! You think I would really make something like this up!"

"I didn't say that!" He put his hand up in a placating and defensive gesture.

"Then what are you saying! Huh! That I was dreaming! I know dreams Rai, this was iNOT A DREAM!/i" Kimiko was standing now, and it was frustrated her that he was so much taller.

Rai had a feeling of impending doom. He had to admit, if just to himself, that had she claimed it was any other villain he would have believed her instantly. Perhaps it was simply his own arrogance, but he just couldn't see Jack Spicer as any sort of real threat.

"Fine," he gave in, "we'll check out Spicer's place in the morning. See what's up. Let's just go to bed for now."

Kimiko was still angry, but she was not going to let her anger control her. They were all tired, going to bed was the sensible thing to do and Raimundo had promised they would check out what was happening tomorrow.

"Fine." She stormed off to her room leaving him standing there.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Jack was horrified. For the first time since all this had begun the true gravity of his situation was finally getting through to him and it made him feel scared and unsure.

iShe had seen him. She wasn't supposed to, Wuya said the forest was secluded…but then she had been there./i

He didn't remember all of it. Mostly he remembered the hunger.

iHe followed the witch, trusting her when she had said to follow. No matter how quietly he had moved the animals still ran. They could sense what he was, or rather, what he was turning into. They had not wanted to die…but one did anyway./i

It was a cat actually. That much he could recall in perfect clarity.

iA cat, not his first choice, but his first choice managed to escape, so a feline it was. He was so hungry. He had a brief thought about eating /iAshleyi instead. He shook it off, no, just /ino.

His memory got fuzzy again there.

iWuya was not with him anymore. Did she mention leaving for a moment? She might have.

He was sooooo…hungry…no thoughts…if you think you will not do it…have to do it…thirsty…hungry…smells good…so warm…heartbeat…blood…

"Jack?"/i

There had been no room for humanity in the vampire's heart. But at the sound of his name he was Jack again, and had looked up in surprise, as if snapped out of a trance.

iHe looked around. The voice had been so familiar, but so quiet that if not for his new, more sensitive hearing Jack would have missed it. His first thought was that it was Wuya, after all, who else could be out here? But no, if it had been Wuya she would not have whispered, she would have just come out and said what she wanted to say.

The vampire was still so thirsty…and here was blood just oozing from the victim…and then a twig had snapped.

The vampire's head quickly turned towards the sound./i

In that moment, seeing her expression, he had truly felt like a monster.

iIt was Kimiko, of all people, where she had come from and how she had got there he did not know, and she had seen him feeding. She gaped at him as if afraid he would run over and bite her, but instead of the feeling of superiority he imagined he would have felt; he encountered an emotion he hated to acknowledge: guilt.

Then Jack was angry, because he did not want to feel guilty. It was not his fault! He had not asked to be bitten! He bared his fangs at her, a gesture that said/i 'Go ahead and stare! I don't care!'i Then the vampire ran away./i

It was nearing morning now and he still was bothered by it. They were no longer in the forest, after that incident he had only wanted to go home, to hide, and Wuya, when he had found her, had acquiesced to his request.

"Wuya?" Jack began sheepishly, "Can I ask you something?"

The witch was currently in the Spicer mansion's living room, relaxing on a dark, purple or bluish color depending on the light, leather couch, surfing the internet on her own dark red laptop she brought over from Chase's. It was ironic really, when she had been a ghost she was always complaining Jack spent too much time on the internet, now that she had her own body (and laptop) it seemed to be one of her favorite ways to pass time.

"What is it?" She responded, not looking up from the screen.

"Is…is there a way to, um, reverse vampirism?"

The witch's face jumped from the screen to the curled up form of her protégé, who was sitting in a black leather recliner, holding a book.

"Why on earth would you want to do that?" Her voice was careful, measured, not wanting to give anything away.

"Just out of curiosity," he lied defensively, shrinking a little under the weight of her stare, "you know, just in case."

"In case of what?" Wuya could tell when Jack was lying or hiding something; she had spent too much time with him not to.

"Nevermind." He said a bit too quickly.

"You can't 'reverse' vampirism Jack, and you can't cure it either." Her voice had a tone of finality to it and she went back to whatever she was doing on the computer.

"Oh." Jack looked away from her, staring into the book he could not seem to focus on reading.

It was lucky for Wuya that Jack could not tell when the witch was lying.


	7. Chapter 7

Chase stared into his spy-orb, frowning. Thought the image that it had held there faded quite a while ago, he was lost in thought, pondering what it had shown him.

For many reasons, it had been quite amusing to watch the Fire Dragon cower in fear because of Spicer. The very idea was absurd, actually iseeingi it was funny as hell. But at the same time, it also displayed why vampires were such a threat. He had not even touched her and she cowered in fear. Of course, if done right, they could be killed quite easily, if done wrong; the chances of you surviving to correct your mistakes were slim.

Then again, the idea to inot/i kill Spicer ihad/i crossed his mind. If he got to him now, made him swear loyalty (which would be simple considering how much the boy idolized him), there would be nothing to worry about. Well, not for Chase anyway. However, there was a reason he had never really never wanted the boy for an apprentice, it was not about power, it was attitude. Not the mention Spicer's amazing talent for possibly being the most annoying person on the face of Earth.

Subconsciously Chase had begun to pet the head of a tiger that lay at the base of his throne. The animal-warrior purred at the touch, hoping his master would scratch his ears as well.

Everything was perfectly quiet, peaceful even, and then something occurred to Chase. He froze for a moment in realization and the tiger, noting the change, looked up expectantly.

It was so blatantly obvious. He began scratching the tiger's ears. Not that it was a particularly shocking realization, but the fact that he had not seen it earlier perturbed him. It was not that Chase particularly cared about saving the life of a pathetic worm like Spicer, because he really did not, but this, the idea that had come so suddenly to him, would be much more convenient.

Chase stood up suddenly, jungle cats of all kinds looking over, waiting for instruction.

"I'm going out," he announced authoritatively, "I have some business to attend to and do not know when I will return." And then he was gone.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

In the Kitchen of the Spicer mansion a certain Heylin Witch could be found leaning against the counter as she waited for coffee to brew. Her long fingernails tapped against the marble impatiently.

Wuya was in a very irritable mood. Mostly this was due to exhaustion, last night she had attempted to give Jack a lesson in shape-shifting and she had gotten very little hindsight, it had not been the best of ideas, but she was not about to wait for him to figure it out for himself.

In the first place, Wuya cannot shape-shift. It was a different kind of magic entirely from hers, so 'the blind was leading the blind', so to speak.

Traditionally, when a vampire created another vampire, the decision was discussed for months between the two parties, and before even that a vampire would only bring the option up at all for someone they really cared about. After all, you are going to be spending a long time with this person. And in fact, almost all vampires are turned by relatives or lovers.

Basically, most vampires learned how to be vampires form other vampires; just as Wuya had learned magic from another witch, her mother. But a witch teaching a vampire? It was like trying to learn math from an English professor. He can only help you so much because it is not his field of expertise.

In the second place, she currently did not have her full powers. Wuya could not perform any sort of demonstration that might have been helpful. (Then again, if she had her full powers she would not be bothering with the silly boy at all.)And in the third place, it was no help at all that her student was Jack.

True, she had put up with him before. In many ways she had gotten used to his antics as they hunted for Shen-gong-wu, but iteaching him/i? But for all her trouble in the end it ihad/i paid off, and for that she was grateful.

The coffee had finally finished brewing and she grabbed a random mug from the cabinet. She did not bother with cream and sugar, she liked it black. Halfway through her first cup she grimaced to see '#1 MOM' on the side of the cup.

She heard a low chuckle. "Well isn't that irony?" A familiar voice drawled. Wuya looked over, unsurprised to see the small form of Hannibal Roy Bean perched on the counter.

"Hannibal, what a surprise." Wuya gave an ingratiating smile, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Nothing much…but a little birdie told me we are to have a new immortal among us." He said in a conversational tone, as if simply trying to confirm local gossip.

"Yes, it's amazing isn't it? If I'm not mistaken, the last one was Chase. But you know all about that."

Hannibal's smile only grew. "So I do. But I must wonder what makes you think you can do better? Especially after what happened with the Wind Dragon?"

Wuya shugged. "Jack's already on our side."

"Is he really?" Questioned Bean, his tone completely serious, "It seems to me he's only just this side of evil. iAlmost good./i"

"Not for long." She smirked.

"True, but do you think it's his ievil/i side that follows you?" Now Hannibal smirked, knowing he was effectively making his case.

Wuya only shrugged, hiding her discomfort with the topic.

"Oh come now," said Bean, "Don't you know history repeats itself? Oh wait; you didn't get to live through history did you?"

"Is this just a social visit or are you here to discuss business?" It was too early in the morning for this. Though she tried to maintain her pleasant demeanor she honestly hoped he would either get to the point or leave. But that was not Hannibal's style.

"A little of both. I just wanted to make a point, and to welcome the new blood. After all, we've all got a long time to spend itogether…/i"

Wuya smirked again at the inflection. "Together?" Now she understood. "You want to join us?"

"We both want revenge against Chase. And I could help you."

This was interesting. "Help me? What do you have in mind?"

"That silver pendant you've hidden away won't do much of anything if our little blood-sucking friend decides he doesn't need a powerless witch."

"As if iyou're/i the expert on keeping your apprentices in line?"

"I admit, my plans didn't pan out exactly how I'd hoped…but that the beauty of it. I've learned from my mistakes. So whaddaya say?"

Wuya thought about it. Hannibal did have a point. Though it was hard to see from where she stood now, hard to think of the bumbling idiot who had opened the puzzle box as true evil, she had to keep in mind he would not be the Jack she knew anymore. Not that she cared. Immortals should never get attached to mortals. It was weak.

At the same time, some small art of her did not completely like the idea of forcing the boy to obey. Which seemed silly to her, after all, was slavery not evil? And after all she was forced to suffer through when she had been in ghost form was she not owed the right to make him do what she wanted?

It's not like she had not done something like that before, as she had with the Ruby of Ramses. It would only be for a while anyway, just long enough to defeat Chase…then Jack could do whatever he wanted.

Wuya smiled again, and said, "Welcome to the group."

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

The day was still young as Dojo landed in the grass outside the gate of the Spicer Mansion, his four passengers getting off just before he shrank back to his smaller size.

"Couldn't you kids have done this later in the day?" The dragon yawned.

"No." Kimiko responded stiffly.

"If Raimundo says we must get it under with so 'Kimiko will stop nagging about it', then we must follow our shok-." Omi began before a tan hand clamped over his mouth.

Kim crossed her arms over her chest shoot Rai a ilook/i, to which he smiled sheepishly at. "I swear I don't know what he's talking about." Kim's expression did not soften in the least.

"Whatever, I'm staying out here," Dojo yawned again, "and catching up on my sleep." The dragon curled up under the shade of a tree and a moment later was snoring loudly.

Raimundo rolled his eyes and turned to the rest of the team. Kimiko seemed to have let it go so he talked on. "Okay guys, let's make this quick. We get in, check for anything unusual, and get out."

"Sounds like a plan." Clay agreed.

"And if we ido/i find something?" Kimiko asked. It annoyed her the way Rai was acting like they would not find anything.

"We can come up with something when we're for sure about what we're facing." Raimundo responded coolly.

Since she could not argue with the logic, and honestly did not feel like trying, Kim just nodded.

Getting inside was simple. There were some Jack-bots roving around but a few well-aimed kicks took care of that. They snuck in through the outside entrance into the dimly lit basement that was Jack Spicer's 'evil lair'.

It looked the same as it usually did, a pile of broken robot in one corner, various parts all over various forms of shelving, devices that seemed to have no purpose what so ever, and the occasional empty pudding cup on the floor. However, one major element was missing: Jack himself.

This in and of itself was a bit unusual, but it iwas/i early in the morning. Most likely he was just asleep.

"Any one see him?" Raimundo called to others, who had wandered in other directions as they looked.

"Nothin' here." Clay responded.

"No." From Kim, whose frown deepened as she said it.

"Nothing." Said Omi.

The Dragon of the Wind sighed and ran his finger though his hair as he leaned back against Jack's lab table. It iwas/i too early for this. As the leader, some might berate him for giving in so easily to the demands of a teammate, but ithey/i would not have been the ones who had to listen to Kimiko's nightmares.

Said girl was surprisingly fine with being here. But that was Kimiko for you, she refused to show weakness.

Raimundo subconsciously moved his hand to lay his hand flat against the table when instead it landed directly on something cold and metal and caused his hand to slip. Instinctively his head turned to see what it was.

It was an open flask. What was it doing here?

"Have you found something?" Omi asked curiously, and Rai looked over to see his team standing around him.

"It's a flask…it was on the table…"

"That looks like what my Uncle uses to hide his booze in," Clay said, "don't tell me Spicer's drinking." He made a disapproving face at the notion.

"I don't think booze was in it guys," offered Kim, who took it from Rai and turned it upside down over the table. A single red drop poured out.


	8. Chapter 8

Now, the Xiaolin Dragons were a group that watched horror movies. Though Omi had only been introduced to them after meeting his friends; they all enjoyed the occasional B-Horror night, poking fun at the classics or gripping the edges of their seats during a truly scary one.

However, it is different when the horror is real. Watching from the comfort of your seat, it is easy to say that you would be smart enough not to make those mistakes. That when the aliens land you would be able to keep your mouth shut until you have proof, otherwise risking a trip to the nuthouse. And when the old Gypsy fortuneteller warns you not to enter the haunted forest, you would listen and stay away.

From the safety of home, it is all too easy to criticize the plucky side-kick who gets eaten by a zombie.

Even now, it was somewhat tempting to blame Raimundo for his continued disbelief, for a drop of blood in a flask in Spicer's basement was hardly rock-solid evidence that the gothic geek had turned into a monster. Kimiko certainly wanted to blame him; wanted to about as much as she wanted to leave.

She truly believed what she saw was real. Any minute she was expecting him to jump out of nowhere and attack. She hid it of course, telling herself she had to get a grip. Monster or no, it was still iJack Spicer/i. The iidea/i that she could be scared of such a scrawny nerd was a blow to her pride; letting others, even friends, know was unthinkable.

Besides, even if she did admit that…No, she was only a little edgy…but still…they would iall/i want to leave with her, and nothing would get done.

No, it was better that she was here.

"Should we search upstairs?" Rai asked, looking at Kimiko.

He was asking her, but that did not stop Omi's input. "Most certainly. Our job is not yet complete!"

"Don't ya think that might be rude though?" Clay wondered, "It's one thing ter break into his lab, but what if his family's here? I wouldn't wanna burst in on his Mother changing ya know?"

Everyone grimaced at the metal image that went with the cowboy's statement.

"Hmm, you got a point there." Rai considered it for a moment. It iwould/i be rather awkward if Jack's mom called the cops on them. "Okay, how 'bout we avoid bedrooms, we'll just search main areas: the kitchen, living room, that kind thing."

Kimiko nodded, "Agreed."

With that, they made their way to the stairs.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Little did the Xiaolin know, as soon as they had reached the top step they activated a laser trip-wire security device. It was a rather recent change that could have easily been stepped over had they noticed it, and was mostly there to keep guests of his parents from wandering into the lair and messing things up. It sent a message to his phone, his computer, and several hidden monitors throughout the large mansion. Though the Evil Boy Genius himself was currently snoring too loudly for the alert to be noticed by him; one of the aforementioned monitors happened to be in the kitchen.

Wuya had not spent this much time in Spicer's home in a long while, and was not up to date on his security changes. Not that it mattered much, no system could keep her out if she really needed in, and even Jack had once acknowledged to her that most of the house's security was for keeping petty thieves from stealing the TVs.

Therefore she was not sure what was going on when a flat screen monitor elegantly slid out of the counter. But she found out soon enough. Hannibal, who had been looking through the morning paper, glanced up for a moment before looking away with disinterest.

The monitor was a touch screen, an option popped up asking is she wanted to view the security cameras. She clicked yes.

"Well, would you look at that." The witch smiled.

Bean looked up again, a grin stretching his features, as footage of the four Xiaolin Dragons wandering through the house played on the high-def screen. "Looks like we aren't the only ones visiting lil' Jackie."

Something seemed off though, and it took Wuya a moment to catch it; she frowned suddenly. Hannibal noticed it too.

"Why are they invading the house?" Wuya looked closer at the image feed, "Jack doesn't keep 'wu in-" She stopped suddenly, realization spreading across her features. The monks were not looking for Shen-gong-wu.

Bean caught it. "I guess the secrets out."

"But that's impossible! How could they know!" iHow!/i Since this had started Jack only left the house once, for hunting, and she was only away from him for fifteen minutes. They did not even go after the Golden Orb-a particularly uninteresting 'wu-so there was no way.

"Nothing's impossible." Hannbal said.

Another look at the monitor showed the teens heading their way. Wuya would have to figure it out later. Right now she was not going to waste the element of surprise.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

In horror movies, there is usually that one moment that leaves you yelling at the screen "DO NOT GO IN THERE!" You beg and you plead just knowing that something is going to eat/main/kidnap/turn them into mindless slaves. But despite your efforts, the character(s) go in anyway.

The monks were currently in one of those moments.

One moment, they were searching the dining room, checking the corners and under the table-not finding anything of course-and the next they were facing two of their worst enemies.

With a sudden kick aimed at his head Raimundo just barely managed to duck to the ground. There was no time to process, so moving on instinct, the others rushed to back him up. However, when Clay and Kimiko tried to move forward, they tripped, and, looking back, saw a vine-like tentacle/arm wrapped around their ankles.

Omi managed to aim an attack at who they all could now see was Wuya, which she managed to deflect sending him flying backwards into Rai-who had only just managed to stand up-and both were knocked down in a pile on the tiled floor.

Hannibal, meanwhile, had let go of Kim and Clay, who were aiming their own attacks which were easily deflected by the bean. Raimundo and Omi had gotten back up by then and together the four assumed a defensive formation against Wuya and Bean, who now stood on the same side (Hannibal having hopped up to the marble counter).

Smirking callously, Wuya said, "My, what are the four Xiaolin Dragons doing here? Stealing Spicer's 'wu perhaps? How evil. Though you should know he doesn't keep them in the kitchen." This was ploy of course; she was just fishing for information. Just how much did they know?

Breathing hard and pouting at the 'evil' comment, Kimiko managed not to take the bait. Everything that had happened…Wuya being involved would make all-to-much sense. Though, if Wuya was involved, would not Jack have told her about seeing Kimiko in the forest? He would have told Wuya right? Why would he keep it a secret?

She forced her questions to the side and said, "It's none of iyour/i business; what we're here for has nothing to do with you."

"Oh? What could have a pathetic boy like Jack done that would have you here at,"-here she looked at the clock above the stove-"5:47 in the morning?"

"Why do you care?" Rai questioned, "You know something about it?"

"iWe know a lot of things/i," Hannibal grinned, "you tend to learn when you're immortal. It's just a matter of how you use it."

"Hannibal and Wuya, we are not here to fight with you," Omi tried to reason, "We are only here to speak with Jack."

"I'm afraid you can't." said Wuya

"And why not?"

"Because, he's asleep, and after our venture last night, he needs it."

That was it then. Her not-a-confession confession said so much. Last night. The very same night Kimiko had come out of the forest talking about blood and fangs. Clay, Omi, and even Rai, who still found the Jack-is-a-monster idea so hard to swallow, were accepting something very evil was going on. Why else would Hannibal and Wuya be here, at this moment, in Spicer's house? Why would they be hinting at some great secret?

Kimiko, who had already known, was now more determined than ever. Thoughts running wild, could see too easily the many scenarios that could have happened. After all, if Bean could make a soup that turns you into an evil dragon, what else could he have done? And Wuya, even without powers, she was still a witch, who knows what she might have done.

Jack…he does almost anything they ask him to. Talking him into…whatever they've done to him…would be all too easy. But what have they done?

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Jack ihad/i been asleep. And sleeping quite peacefully, that is, until he realized the loud banging and clanging and beeping noises were not a part of his dreams. Yawning and groaning, the Evil Boy Genius glanced at his clock, 5:44…AM. He had not even been asleep for half an hour! Ugh…

Ignoring the instinct to go back to sleep, he turned his attention to his wrist watch. It was more than a wrist watch though; it was a communicator, the control for his robots, and a computer. He had gotten the idea for from a movie he had seen as a kid; except, his watch could also tell time.

Sigh, a security breach. The trip wire from the lair's staircase had been activated. Great. Just great. Wuya probably tripped it by accident.

Yawning again, he stretched and put his yellow house shoes, the ones that were made to look like monsters, on. Vampires are inot/i supposed to be up this early. Grumbling and whining, he walked over to the monitor in his room, and accessing the cameras was instantly awake to see the fight going on in his kitchen.

Eyebrows hitting his hairline, he was suddenly afraid. The Xiaolin knew. Kimiko had seen him and she knew and now they knew and now they were here to drive a stake though his heart or light him on fire or any of the other ways you get rid of a vampire.

Normally, the non-vampire Jack would have been in a full blown panic by now. Yet, the vampire was unexpectedly calm. He did not notice his put of character behavior, and if you were to point it out to him he would whine it was not true.

He studied the video, the monks were not carrying steaks with them, and though it was possible for Kimiko to burn him alive she was not the type to do such a thing. And there was no guarantee they even knew he was a specifically a vampire. Besides, Wuya had his back.

That worry averted, he was suddenly angry, and the sudden urge to tear them all to sheds entered his mind. Wait. Tear them to sheds? But somehow, the surge of blood lust did not bother him. It felt natural even, so he embraced it. If fact, he had not felt this evil since that time he and his good side were separated. And he loved it. He was going to go up there and show them all just why they should be afraid of vampires. But first…it was sunny in the kitchen, he needed a hat.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Any other time and Kimiko would have laughed at the way Jack looked. He was wearing black jeans, a belt with a skull for the buckle, a black, half tucked in shirt with a robot on it that had car for a head and a caption that read 'Chicks Dig Giant Robots', a black house coat, yellow fuzzy slippers, and-the real kicker-a fedora. It looked stupid quite frankly. But the un-Jack-like glare they were getting stifled any laughter.

Kim had frozen completely. He met her gaze and for a moment, he almost looked…guilty. But it disappeared as soon as she noticed it. Now he just looked pissed off, which iwas/i understandable she supposed.

"Okay," said Jack, breaking the silence, "so first, you break into my house iat five-whatever AM,/i you start a fight in my kitchen-"

"We didn't start it!" Rai defended, " Wuy-"

"iShut up./i"

Raimundo did, but only out of surprise. He heard a chuckle from Wuya begind him. Jack's tone when he said it; he did not sound like Jack at all. It was…creepy. Very, very creepy. He was too calm, too still. In fact, he was acting a lot like Chase Young.

"Jack Spicuh, why are you acting so strangely?" Jack turned his attention to Omi.

"Strange?" Was he acting differently? Well, he was sleep deprived. "I'm not the one breaking into houses early in the morning."

"Speaking of which," said Wuya, "you never explained why your even here."

Jack looked guilty again, and finally admitted, "I know why they're here."

"What!" Had the witch's eyebrow rose any further they would have disappeared into her hair.

"Uh, did you know how close that forest was to the Xiaolin temple?"

Wuya gave him a ilook/i, her mind filling in the blanks, and Jack grinned sheepishly.

"How 'bout that Wuya?" Hannibal grinned, thinking of their prior conversation, "I guess there's no reason to keep the secret anymore."

Wuya pouted, she had wanted it kept a secret, it had been a part of her plan that they would not know what hit them. Oh well, as long as they all knew…

"Alright, then I suppose it's time to show off." She smiled, an evil thing. The monks tensed, unsure of what to expect, but ready for an impending attack.

Jack smiled too, the odd blood lust rising again, and no one missed those two sharp fangs.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It had taken longer than he would have thought, but all the same Chase found what he was looking to find. It was a very old text, written by a Catholic priest in either the fourteenth or fifteenth century. He had read the book, many, many years ago, shortly after acquiring it, but it had been so long he could only remember parts of it.

What he did remember though, was that the book was focused mainly on the priest's encounters with the supernatural. The book was not written particularly well, as it tended to jump from one subject to the next seemingly without rhyme or reason, but it did contain much useful, and more importantly, iaccurate/i information for anyone attempting to rid their village of "ungodly pests".

This included vampires, and though he had to practically reread the entirety of the very long book to find the right passage-for the priest would mention vampires in one section, skip to something else, then continue about them in another-he did find the passage he had only barely remembered, the sentence that might save him the trouble of killing his ever annoying fanboy. Basically, it read:

_"…if the Nosferatu dost still live, and his unfortunate victim hast not yet tasted the blood of Man; he shall be freed if thee put to rest the Vampire…"_

As far as he knew, Spicer had only drunk animal blood so far, as he should still be human enough that human blood would make him sick. If he could find and kill the creature that bit Jack, the spell would break, so to speak, and he would return to being human.

If he hurried, this could be all over before it caused any trouble. But he hesitated.

He knew his motives would be questioned for such an act; though not intentionally any sort of mercy, he was essentially saving Spicer's life. He did not like Jack, plain and simple. To be fair, Spicer never really did anything to earn his hatred; he was annoying, but so was Wuya. It really just came down to the fact Chase rarely liked people to start with.

However, his emotions on the matter aside, this would be a lot more convenient. Spicer's situation aside, he would need to get rid of the Upir as well. Though it did not directly affect him to let it run about; if it was deteriorated enough to make accidental vampires it was a threat to everyone, Xiaolin, Heylin, or civilian.

As it had taken him most of the day find and read through that book, Chase found he had another problem. There is a reason vampires are killed during daylight hours. Not just because the morning sun will burn them, but because it weakens them as well. They cannot shape-shift during the day. Cannot turn into smoke and vanish.

As old as it may be, the Upir, if it has any self preservation instincts left at all, will not likely just stand there and let him kill it when it could simply turn into a bat and fly away. Unless he wanted to wait until morning, by which time it would probably be too late, he was going to need the Golden Orb.

Satisfied by the plan he now had, he left a message for his warriors and vanished.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

For the Xiaolin Dragons, it had been a very long and disturbing day. For starters, they had essentially trapped themselves in a kitchen with three deadly immortals who all hated their guts.

It was Wuya who made the first move, and Raimundo nearly had his face kicked in. Omi and Clay found themselves distracted by Hannibal which left Jack and Kimiko. Jack, who looked completely silly at the moment, and who under normal circumstances would be less threating than a kitten, was currently fighting like a feral hungry tiger.

His movements were sloppy and predictable but there was so much force behind them she found herself having to dodge more than she blocked for fear of a broken limb. The word 'vampire' had gone through her mind a few million times by that point after he had tried to bite her.

Oddly, despite their current situation, she was over her fear. She knew what she was fighting now, he wasn't the monster in the dark anymore, he was just another enemy. An enemy who apparently wanted to eat her, she summoned fire to her right hand and Jack reeled back. Despite being faster he was just as clumsy and landed on his butt with an 'oomph!'.

She smirked and the look he gave her was so unJack-like that she had to remind herself who this was. His hat had fallen off, and though the curtains over the kitchen widows were closed tight a ray of sunlight still peeked in.

Instead of sparkling, as certain media might suggest, when Jack moved to get up the ray hit his face and he _burned_. Screaming his usual scream, he jumped backwards looking frantically for his hat and she used that distraction against him. It was then she realized just how angry she was.

Kimiko being angry at Jack was nothing knew, but this was not mere annoyance, this was pure rage. For the last twelve hours she'd been terrified because of him! Stupid, irritating, but harmless Jack! Afraid of him! Not cool! If she was being completely honest to herself, she was more mad at her own weaknesses then Jack, but lets face it, he's fun to take your anger out on.

Everything after that was a bit of a blur. There was more fighting and they next thing she knew they were getting pasted. If it wasn't for Dojo hearing their scuffle from outside there was a very real possibility that they would have been leaving with more than a few bruises, if at all.

It was luck that had them flying away, and yet she didn't feel lucky. It was usually Jack who ended up flying away defeated, and it rubbed salt in the wounds to be on the flip side. Kimiko wasn't the only one who felt it.

"That was...weird." Rai finally admitted.

"I think that's an understatement Rai." said Clay.

"What could they have done to Jack Spicer! I do not like what they have done to him!"

"I don't know..."

It was then that it occurred to Kimiko that the others, being as they were not the ones who fought him, didn't get as close of a look as she did. Though it seemed obvious to her, they needed filling in. Still, she felt akward saying it, if just because admitting something aloud means you believe it, and such a surreal event as the one that was happening now can be very hard to swallow.

She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Omi, guys, I-I think Jack's become a vampire..."

They, as expected, stared at her, not so much in disbelief, but more with the kind of surprise one feels when you realize you didn't think of that idea first, and yet it seems so obvious now.

"A Vampire? Seriously?"

"Think about it Rai: burns in the sun, sharp fangs, super strength, and..." A morbid thought occurred to her, and it showed on her expression.

"What?"

"...Remember those recent killings? The victims drained of blood?"

Clay caught on. "Ya don't think Spicer coulda-"

"I don't know, it doesn't sound like him but you saw how he was back there! He hasn't acted that weird, well, weird for him since the green monkey army."

"True but, sigh, dang, what a coincidence right?"

"What do you mean Raimundo?" asked Omi.

"Well, he already looked the part, but now he is one? How does that work out?" The threw his hands up in exasperation, shaking his head.

"Ugh, I know, it's like bad fanfiction." She crossed her arms, glaring over the city.

"Kimiko, what is 'fanfiction'?"

"It's...ugh, I'll tell you later, right now we need to figure out a plan."

"Do ya think there could be somethin' in the scrolls about this?" Clay asked.

"It's worth a shot." Said Rai.

O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O

Fifteen hundred years ago, just after he had locked Wuya in her puzzle box, Grand Master Dashi found that he had a new problem, hiding the Shen-gong-wu. China was not the only place in the world that had monsters, and often times he had to face one just to clear a place to hide the magical objects.

Though the various people of those various place often looked upon those acts as heroic, to Dashi they were merely him keeping the forces of evil away from the 'wu. Depending on the circumstance, he would either lock them away or destroy them completely, but sometimes, he left the monsters as they were.

To the Grand Master, the balance on Yin and Yang was important, because you can never really destroy evil, only keep it form growing. It was one of the reasons he had not killed Wuya, he could have, but that would have thrown things too out of balance. No, the world, in it's own odd way, needed her as much as it needed Xiaolin warriors.

So he didn't get rid of all the monsters, no, that would only throw the universe into chaos, just sort of trimmed them down a little to keep them form growing out of control.

It so happened that the Russian village he had planned on hiding one of the 'wu in had a particularly nasty parasite problem. The town was overrun with vampires, and he found himself faced with a conundrum. As much as he hated to see people dying, killing all of them would, in reality, only make way for some thing worse.

Besides, killing vampires was a tricky business, especially young, well-fed ones. But one morning, as the sun rose high, he got an idea that would solve his problem. The Golden Orb.

He would find the vampires lair, as they tended to live in packs when created by each other, and simply activate the orb. It would kill off the majority with out killing them all. Even better, he could simply leave the orb there afterwards; they certainly wouldn't use it, and no one would want to get near the remaining vampires to retrieve it.

Of course, after Dashi left with less vampires eating them, the village grew. As the village grew, it began hunting out those remaining blood-suckers. They just so happened to miss one; one who had been hiding until some children came to retrieve to Golden Orb.

**A/N: Meh, not my best chapter, and it took forever to put together too. I'm running out of ideas here, but hopefully there will only be two chapters left so I think I can make it. Geez I am a lazy writer. Also, I have been thinking about adding character death; what do you think?**


	10. Sorry

I know all of you reading this were probably expecting another chapter...but I can't. I just can't write this anymore. It's not so much that I've run out of ideas, as that I've run out of modivation. This story didn't end up going where I wanted it to, and I don't like what it is. I have no desire to do a rewrite, so I officially declare myself done with this.

Now, if YOU want to write an ending; by all means, I'd be happy to see what you do with it.

Some pointers/would-have-been spoilers if you do:

-Chase and the Xiaolin were going to team-up to kill the Upir.

-Hannibal find out what they're trying to do and with Wuya and Jack try to stop them.

-Jack realizes he doesn't want to be a monster.

-Was debating wether to kill off Jack, force him to stay a vampire against his will, or have everything return to normal.

-In the case of the middle option, had an idea for an epilouge where future monks meet Jack, who, though not apart of the Xiaolin, is against the Heylin.

I don't know that many people are actually reading this anyway (though it seemed sorta popular on Deviantart), so I hope it is not too much of a disapointment.

For those who have been reading, I want to thank all of you for your favs and reviews! You've been great.


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